Prayer: Making An Eternal Impact John Repass

Transcription

1 Prayer: Making An Eternal Impact John Repass I. WHAT IS PRAYER In its most basic sense Prayer is communicating with God. It involves conversing with God as a child does with its father. Our heavenly Father loves it when we, as His children, tell Him as sincerely and truthfully as we can Father, I love You. Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Copyright 1971, has this definition of the word pray : 1. To make entreaty or supplication. 2. To address God with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving. II. PRINCIPLES OF PRAYER A. When to Pray 1. Always Luke 18:1, 2-8, Jeremiah 33:3 a. Pray without ceasing I Thessalonians 5:17 b. Be constant in prayer. Romans 12:12 2. Daily in Our Devotional Time Mark 1:35 3. Protracted time How To Spend a Day In Prayer by Lorne Sanny B. Praying According To The Will of God 1 John 5:14-15 C. What To Pray For 1. Anything That Concerns Us or Brings Us Anxiety Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV) 2. Pray for Those You Know Who Don't Know Christ Romans 10:1, 2, John 6:44 How To Pray for the Lost - Use ABC a. For God to bind the Adversary against them. Mark 3:27 b. That God will raise up believers to speak to them the gospel. Romans 1:16

2 c. That He will send the Spirit of Christ to draw them to Jesus. John 16:8 3. Pray for Laborers Matthew 9:37 4. Pray for Our enemies Matthew 5:43 5. Pray Against Temptation Matthew 26:41 6. The Saints and Whatever Needs We See Ephesians 6:18, John 15:8 John 15:7 D. For those are willing to pray, the spiritual rewards are theirs for the taking. Bill McCartney - Founder Promise Keepers 1. Set a goal of expanding your prayer life over the next five years 2. Set a prayer goal based on your own life and time today. 3. Keep a record of how you are doing on meeting your prayer goal 4. Evaluate yearly and set a new goal E. Precautions About Prayer 1. Avoid Hypocrisy - Matthew 6: Avoid Repeating Meaningless Words - Matthew 5:7 3. Avoid Unforgiving Spirit - Mark 11:25 4. Avoid Pride - Luke 18:10-11, F. Why Our Prayers are not answered 1. We don't ask - James 4:2 2. We ask with wrong motives - James 4:3 3. We ask without being cleansed of our sin - Isaiah 59:1, 2 4. We ask without yielding - Psalm 66:18 5. We ask with unresolved conflict with others - Matthew 5:23 6. We ask without faith that the Lord will answer - James1:6, Psalm10:

3 III. PATTERN FOR PRAYER A Practical Plan For Daily Morning Prayer Using ACTS Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Prayer Lists Our prayer life is a reflection of our relationship with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit A. ADORATION Adoration Means Praising God Psalm 117:1 Psalm 146:1-2 Psalm 150:6 (KJV) Days of Praise Practice: 2. Praise Sheets from 2959 Friday III. 3. Sing Praises To The Lord Psalm 33:2 Psalm 135:3 B. CONFESSION AM I READY TO PRAY? BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT 3

4 1. Every Believer Is Indwelt by the Spirit Romans 8:9 a. Every Believer Has Been Baptized By The Spirit I Corinthians 12:13 2. Not Every Believer Is Filled With The Spirit Ephesians 5:18 What God claims, I yield, what I yield, God accepts, what God accepts He fills, what God fills, He uses. C. THANKSGIVING Give Thanks For: 1. Spiritual Blessings, General, Those who Helped me to know Christ, Those who have helped me grow in Christ. 2. Material Blessings. 3. Family blessings. 4. Personal Ministry D. Pray to the Lord the things He said to me today from the Word. Have a two-way conversation. E. PERSONAL APPLICATION PRAYER F. SUPPLICATION (Intercession and Petition) Supplication: To make a humble entreaty; to pray to God; to ask humbly and earnestly of. Petition: to make a request to or for Intercession: the act of interceding; prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another Interceding: to act between parties with a view to reconciling differences Intercessory prayer is ministry, spiritual work. DAILY FAMILY PRAYER LIST - Pray for all names every day WEEKLY FAMILY PRAYER LIST - Extended Family Pray for the names under this day of the week (Sun Sat) DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER 4

5 Your own daily prayer requests and petitions MEN MEETING WITH Pray for the people God has give you to follow up or disciple Use Individual Prayer Request Sheets of men I am meeting with for Verse Review, Bible Study and Accountability. MEN MET IN PAST (SHEPHERDING) SPIRITUAL CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS WEEKLY PRAYER FOR PAST OR PRESENT SPIRITUAL LEADERS (Sun.-Sat.) GRIEVING AND SICK FRIENDS SPIRITUAL LEADERS (PAST AND PRESENT) NATIONAL ISSUES WEEKLY PRAYER FOR MINISTERS WE GIVE TO (Sun.- Sat.) NON CHRISTIAN FRIENDS PEOPLE WITNESSED TO PRAYER LIST (Sun.- Sat.) WEEKLY PRAYER FOR PEOPLE IN MY SS CLASS (Sun.- Sat) NEIGHBORS PRAYER LIST COMPANY CO-WORKERS WEEKLY PRAYER LIST THOSE LED TO CHRIST PRAYER LIST (Sun.- Sat.) FRIENDS PRAYER LIST (DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY) 1. People that you have known in the past that God brings to mind. 2. People who are well known and making the wrong impact on America (Includes movie stars, TV stars, politicians, rock stars, etc.) 3. People you know who are lost. (Maybe the names of everyone in the Company you work for.) 5

6 MORE EXCITING SPIRITUAL MINISTRY TO GO AFTER Remember: For those are willing to pray, the spiritual rewards are theirs for the taking. LOCAL OUTREACH Church Ministries and Staff, KMI Prayer Guide WORLD OUTREACH States of the U.S., All the Towns in your state, All the places you have traveled to, 31 Days of Prayer For The Nations, Russian Districts and Selected Cities, Provinces of China, India States and Cities God's working through the most effective ministries in the world. Get their prayer needs from their letters or websites. BillyGraham.org, samaritanspurse.org, Slavic Gospel Association sga.org, Church Around The World NON CONFORMING All the prayer letters and prayer sheets that are the wrong size. Tie a rubber band around them, give them a Sun to Sat and stick them under this divider. TODAY'S BUSINESS Operation World includes a request for every country in the world. WorldMap.org is the most up-to-date status map of Bible translation and the Great Commission (free download) 6